BFI celebrates the London 2012 Olympics with a host of activity

Set for general release in the UK on 15 June 2012, sports drama Fast Girls charts the rollercoaster journey of a British female sprint relay team. The film, directed by award-winning director Regan Hall and starring some of Britain’s hottest young actors, has been financed by the BFI Film Fund, StudioCanal and Aegis.

This year sees the culmination of Rescue the Hitchcock 9, a three year project undertaken by the BFI National Archive to restore Alfred Hitchcock’s surviving silent films. As part of the London 2012 Festival celebrations, four of these films will be premiered with newly commissioned scores in spectacular venues across the capital:

The Pleasure Garden (1926) screens on 28 and 29 June at Wilton’s Music Hall, with a new score by Daniel Patrick Cohen.

Blackmail (1929) premieres at the British Museum on 6 July, with a score by Neil Brand. This will be the first feature film screening ever to take place outside this iconic venue, which features in the film itself.

The Ring (1927) will be shown on 13 July at the Hackney Empire, a venue Hitchcock himself frequented, with a score by Soweto Kinch.

The Lodger: a Tale of the London Fog (1926) plays at the Barbican on 21 July, with a score by Nitin Sawhney commissioned in association with Network Releasing.

We’ve awarded Lottery funding to bring Chariots of Fire back to UK cinemas from Friday 13 July. For the first time in a generation, audiences across the country will have the opportunity to enjoy the multi Oscar-winning Olympic drama on the big screen. Our funding is specifically aimed at broadening the release of the film.

We’ve also helped finance LONDON — The Modern Babylon, Julien Temple’s epic exploration of London through archive film, which will be broadcast in the UK during the Olympics following a limited theatrical release.

In August, we’re teaming up with the Hackney Empire to present Trailblazers: Queens of TV Comedy, a season celebrating pioneering female comedy stars who achieved the rare accolade of hosting their own shows. Screenings of archive material will be complemented by live comedy performances at the Hackney Empire. The season will form part of the London 2012 Festival.

The BFI National Archive has a wide range of films relating to the Olympics preserved in its collections. A selection of these films will be available to watch in BFI Mediatheques from May, and we’re offering edited highlights of the 1908 London Olympics to cinemas around the country.

Finally, we will be releasing three DVDs highlighting the history and culture of London. The British Transport Films Collection Volume Ten contains rare and previously unavailable films about London Transport. Wonderful London captures some of the most evocative images of the capital filmed during the 1920s. London Tales contains four films by the Children’s Film Foundation, featuring plucky London youngsters foiling villains, gangsters and conmen.